Banana, Date & Walnut Slice with Lemon Icing

Lemon Icing Running off the Slice

The first time I baked this I took a pasquillion photos of each step of the process…Then the next day when I was all motivated to post it on my blog I went to upload my photos and realised—my dam memory card wasn’t in my camera when I took all the photos!!!! 

The only good thing to come from taking phantom photos was that I got to make this amazing slice/cake AGAIN!  I know I’m probably a little bias but this would have to be one of—not wait, maybe even my actual favourite—thing I’ve ever baked…

To test whether I was just too biased I took the second lot into work with me and the critics loved it!  The massive container I took in came home empty at the end of the day…I even got a few page view out of it!!! =D

But seriously, this slice is amazing…it has more of a cake texture, very moist and fluffy but still has enough depth and denseness to it to make it delicious!  I think the bananas and dates give it most of its moistness and I tended to put in a little extra banana both times I baked it.  I even cheated with the icing and used bottled lemon juice instead of a fresh lemon—you couldn’t even tell!

  

Banana, Date & Walnut Slice with Lemon Icing 

Recipe adapted from ninemsn.com

Ingredients:

The First Piece

• ½ cup (80g) seeded, coarsely chopped dried dates
• ¼ cup (60ml) water
• 1 tblsp golden syrup
• 90g butter
• ½ cup of white sugar
• ¼ cup of brown sugar
• 1 cup (150g) self-raising flour, sifted
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¾ cup (45g) rolled oats
• 1/3 cup mashed bananas
• ¾ cup of roughly chopped walnuts

Lemon Icing:

• 2½ cups (400g) icing sugar (mix of pure & soft)
• 30g softened butter
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon water, approximately
• Extra walnuts

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180⁰. Spray and line a slice tin with baking paper.
2. Combine dates, the water and golden syrup in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes or until slightly thickened, then cool.
3. Beat the butter and sugar in a small bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in sifted flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, date mixture, oats, walnuts and banana.
4. Spread the mixture evenly over the base of the prepared tin.
5. Bake in a moderate oven for about 30 minutes or until a skewer comes out relatively clean.  You want it to still be a little squishy to the touch.  Cool.

Lemon Icing Method:

1. Sift the icing sugar into a small heatproof bowl.
2. Stir in the butter and juice, and enough water to give a stiff paste.
3. Stir over pan of simmering water until spreadable OR if you’re like me, just chuck it in the microwave for 20 seconds.
4. Spread the slice with the lemon icing and sprinkle with sprinkle with the extra walnuts.
5. Eat it while it's still a little warm (if you were inpatient when you put the icing on! hehe)

Love in Baking, Passionate Baker! 2:D

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

Ok so I have some awesome news and some bad news...I FINALLY got a digital SLR camera!  The bad news is that I made this Carrot Cake before I bought the camera so the photo quality is still crap...

It tasted good though!  Regardless of how it looked!  I was sitting at home cleaning while mum was out doing groceries when I randomly had a craving to make carrot cake, not because I wanted to eat it just felt like making it...

Although the thought of licking the left overs out of the mixing bowl for both the cake AND the cream cheese frosting may have influenced my decision.  Carrot cake would have to be one of THE BEST cake batters to eat, I almost wish, no I DO WISH, that I’d kept some batter in a container in the fridge hahaha. 

This is a pretty easy recipe, it’s from this recipe book my Aunty made for me and all the women in my family/extended family.  It’s a collation of all of her tried, tested and favourite recipes from baked goods, to Thai noodle salads and decadent desserts.  It really is an amazing book, I’ve cooked and baked so much out of it lately...

Ingredients: 

Ingredients all in one!

• 1 Cup oil
• 3 eggs
• 1 ½ cups raw sugar
• 2 cups sifted SR flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• ½ tsp salt
• 2 cups grated carrot*
• 1 cup walnuts (semi crushed, extra for decorating)
• 1 cup drained crushed pineapple** 

Icing: 

• 125g Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2 tbsp butter (softened)
• 1 cup icing sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla 

Method: 

1. Preheat oven to 180⁰.
2. Mix together the oil, eggs and sugar.
3. Add the SR flour, cinnamon and salt, then the rest of the ingredients.
4. Pour batter into two round cake tins and bake for approximately 1 hour or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean/crumbly.
5. Let cool completely before icing.

 Icing: 

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Place one cake on a serving plate and ice the top of it.
3. Place the second cake on top then ice the top and sides.
4. Sprinkle with the extra walnuts. 

* I used a food processor with a grater to grate the carrots.  I’ve done it before by hand and it takes a VERY LONNNNG TIME!

**I also discovered that a tin of strained pineapple gives you not only pineapple for your carrot cake but ALSO pineapple juice to use for MALIBU AND PINEAPPLE!!! Yayyyy! I didn’t drink it with my carrot cake though, it was gone before the cake was even in the oven...

Love in Baking...Passionate Baker! 2:D